What You Eat Is How You Feel: True for the Dog Too?

Since making the decision to go back to my healthy ways of eating I have felt so much better. Making the choice to eat the right food though sometimes is not so easy. Lucky for my dogs, I make that choice for them all the time. Do you do the same for your dog?

Do You Know Where Your Dog’s Food Comes From… How About The Food You Eat?

Processed, processed, processed. That’s pretty much all most people and dogs eat. Even when you know better it’s a difficult thing to stay away from. Even the healthiest of grocery stores feature choices that in the long run have come down the line of quite processed.

Dog food on the other hand, pretty much all of it is processed. Hmmmm, our dogs seem to be getting sick earlier in life. Wonder if there is a relationship with all the processed food?

Unless you are feeding an entirely raw diet you are going to end up feeding your dog processed food. That being the case it is important to find out what is in the processing, who processes it (big business or companies concerned with the health of your dog), and what ingredients are actually included.

The Truth About Dog Food

Not all dog food companies are the same and unfortunately you’ll find those that have the most beautiful advertising suggesting a healthy diet are not providing the nutrition they claim. The next time you reach for the most advertised brand think again about the mission. Is it your dog’s health or it is the advertising that is helping you make the decision to feed your dog a certain brand.

An example of “oh my I didn’t know that” about this very popular dog food brand is in this story: Dead Frog in Dog Food

There are many good choices out there, including feeding your dog whole real food. A great resource to help with the truth about dog food and your knowledge base can be found at K9 Cuisine: Rate Your Dog’s Food

Is Real Food a Good Idea for My Dog

If processed isn’t good for humans, and dogs weren’t ”created“ eating processed I would say absolutely, without a doubt real food is a good idea for your dog. There are some foods that are in fact toxic or dangerous for your dog. Sometimes very simple foods like grapes can cause serious damage to your dog’s system. There is a partial list of foods you shouldn’t give your dog here: Holiday Food: The Good and The Bad

Though I do give my dogs real food I found a really interesting and thought provoking article about mixing kibble and real food at the same time here: Why Mixing Kibble and Raw May Be a Bad Idea The idea of how it digests makes total sense.

Many of my private clients whom I coach with their dog ask what I feed my own dogs. The truth of the matter is I’m a combo gal. I’d love to feed real food all the time, but with travel, training, writing and play I have to go with the combination. Wysong is my choice simply because of how and where it is made. You can find tons of information on their website. I feed real food in a separate meal now.

I will say the shipping is a bit much to pay, but I will also say that through much research and trying different food with my own dogs who I go all out for health and fitness wise, they look and act the best on this one. So it’s worth it. Not only that, my female 3 year old Labrador Retriever had the beginnings of incontinence from spaying has cleared up since putting her back on Wysong. Yep, on Wysong clear, tried something else, wet spots, back on Wysong she stopped. It was a good test.

No scientific testing or laboratory stats on my part. I’m just saying it worked and my Weimaraner and Lab get comments about how great they look all the time. As far as how they feel, intuition says….. rockin!

Do your research and know what you are feeding your dog and why. Many good choices here so leave a comment and let me know what’s working for your dog… or what questions you may have about diet, nutrition and how to keep your dog fit and healthy.

Thanks for the very informative tips. That frog thing really grossed me out though and totally reconfirmed the fact that most dog food is crap! I knew the brand in question was bad, but had no idea how bad. Like the raw and kibble feeding suggestions too.Deb´s last blog post ..Is The High Everything Diet The Secret to Lasting Fat Loss

Terrific post. In this information age, I am always astounded by how many people I meet who give no consideration to what they feed their dogs…Life With Dogs´s last blog post ..The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop- Dive In!

Nice article. It’s so true that we are what we eat and that goes for our dogs too. You would not believe the difference in my dogs once I finally got brave enough to take them off kibble! (Just over a year ago) They eat raw some days and cooked human grade food on others depending on what I have.

There is nothing like seeing a ten year old dog act like a puppy again! While it takes more time and a little planning the effort really pays off. All five of my dogs have improved health and more energy.

And last but not least, none of them will take a milk bone dog biscuit anymore but they’ll jump up and down for a carrot!

Thanks Andrea for your story about your ten year old dog and the switch in spunk due to food.

Like you, I spend time studying dog food, fitness and nutrition in order to do the right thing for my dogs as well as for those I coach and train. I’m amazed at how something very simple like the thought that kibble is processed is widely ignored considering all the information out there about how humans should not eat processed food and how bad it is for their health. Why is it okay to feed the dog processed food? And ONLY processed? Yikes!